Suspect in bar beating case charged with manslaughter

PORTSMOUTH -- Zachary O'Neill, the man accused of pummeling a 24-year-old at a Portsmouth bar earlier this year, leading to his death, has been charged with manslaughter.

Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams announced Wednesday that a grand jury has indicted O'Neill on a special felony manslaughter charge.

Prosecutors are seeking enhanced penalties in the case, meaning O'Neill faces a potential sentence of more than five decades in jail if he's convicted. The manslaughter charge carries a potential maximum sentence of between 18 1/2 years and 37 years in jail. A separate first-degree assault charge carries a sentence of between 11 and 22 years.

Investigators say Krantz was attacked on the dance floor at The Page Restaurant & Bar on the morning of Saturday, April 6. Video footage shows he was struck in the back of the head and repeatedly punched.

According to court documents, O'Neill told workers at The Page he assaulted Krantz because Krantz spilled a drink on him several hours earlier.Investigators say Krantz refused medical attention and returned home to his apartment. He was later found dead by his roommates. The cause of Krantz's death was found to be a skull fracture that led to bleeding. The chief medical examiner's office has ruled the death a homicide.

An indictment handed up last week by a Rockingham County grand jury alleges O'Neill struck Krantz in the head with his fist, “resulting in an acute epidural hematoma due to or as a consequence of a left temporal skull fracture.”

Reams said the case is eligible for enhanced sentencing because O'Neill was out on bail in Strafford County on unrelated charges at the time of the bar attack.The bail orders stemmed from a February 2013 traffic stop in Dover. After being pulled over by a Dover officer, O'Neill was allegedly found to be transporting marijuana and a firearm in the car. He faces charges of driving with a suspended license (a subsequent offense), carrying a gun without a permit and possessing an undisclosed quantity of marijuana.

O'Neill was previously ordered held on $250,000 bail in Rockingham County in connection with the assault at The Page. He has since been transported to the jail in Strafford County, where he is being held in connection with the alleged bail violation.

O'Neill is scheduled to be arraigned on the new manslaughter charge in Rockingham Superior Court in Brentwood on July 29.